[FiguReview]D-Arts Knight Blazer

New review today!! This time it's a new figure line for me, D-Arts. It's Bandai-made too, but unlike SHFiguarts that mostly for a human/humanoid characters from Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and anime, D-Arts line is for characters with digital background, mostly from video games. And so, as the title suggests, this review is for Knight Blazer from the classic popular RPG, Wild Arms 2nd Ignition!

D-Arts Knight Blazer
Sep 21st 2012 release | 3990 yen | Bandai

Character History

To be honest, I never played Wild Arms 2, or any Wild Arms for that matter, so I have no idea who this Knight Blazer is! I haven't gotten into RPG yet at that time in my defense, haha. But from what I know, Knight Blazer is the alternate form of Ashley Winchester, the main protagonist of the game. He's a lone survivor of an incident that fallen to his squad where he and his comrade were used by demon summoning experiment. Even though he survived, but Ashley possessed by Lord Blazer, the main antagonist, who was sealed before. This granted Ashley power to transform into Knight Blazer, the flame warrior, tapping into Lord Blazer's power making him more powerful in battle.

Packaging

Just like most Bandai's action figure line's, and also Japanese figures, packaging format, D-Arts uses box instead of card like US figures. The box is quite thick, since on the inside there's two level of double-layered blister to store Knight Blazer and its accessories. From the window blister on the front you can see the glimpse of the figure, while on the side (and one image on the rear) you can see the figure reenact memorable pose from the opening of the game. The rear side consist more promo images that show you most of this figure gimmicks, as well as summary of Wild Arms 2nd Ignition game and Knight Blazer. Of course it's written in Japanese ^^;

Set Content

Since I haven't played the game, and Youtube doesn't have compilation video of his attacks/skills, I don't know if the accessories included on D-Arts are to be considered a lot or not. It doesn't have any effect part though, but it has diorama part! And so, the full list is this:

• Knight Blazer figure
• Scarf
• Interchangeable chest armor part for Vanishing Buster
• Knight Fencer sword
• 3 pairs of extra interchangeable hand parts
• Cliff diorama

Sculpt

To ensure the quality and precision of the sculpt, the original staff of Wild Arms 2nd Ignition supervises the project. I don't know if the result is accurate or not, but I think Knight Blazer looks so damn awesome and stunning. The joints are mostly well-hidden and if the photo taken properly you probably can't tell this is an action figure. The red parts on his feet are loose but it's made that way so don't worry and think yours are defect. I kinda disappoint knowing his head joint isn't like SHF, it's almost impossible to remove the head, you can only remove the neck, this make my dream to swap Knight Blazer's head to upcoming Figma Nyarlko impossible :(

For its height, Tamashii Web states it stands around 14 cm, but when I compare it to SHF Kamen Rider Ichigo and Figma Sunred, Knight Blazer are shorter than both of them, so I think it's around 12-13 cm instead. Picture below for more comparison.

Size comparison with SHF Kamen Rider Shin Ichigo
and Figma Tentai Senshi Sunred

Paint

The paint is also well-done. The black color is mostly glossy and the red parts are metallic, aside from the scarf which used plastic-y red though has awesome shade. The details on the extra chest part are great too. You can't see it from the front side but if you see it from below you can see Knight Blazer's eyes. Really, I'm very satisfy with the result, there's no major flaw or quality control defect, kudos to Bandai this time.

Articulations

The articulation is also superb, and the mechanism is kinda like SHF. The head movement is good but the scarf kinda limit the movement if you want it to look down. The shoulder 'armor' parts are mounted on the upper arm instead of its body so you can freely move the arm. Double-hinge joint can be found on the elbow and knee, making its move more versatile. The ball-hinge joint ala SHF is also used on the hand joint, and replacing the arm is quite easy too.

The bitchy part is when I want to move the leg. It's very very tight, more than my SHF Fourze or Amazon, and when I do move it, it makes sound and you can feel it like it will break any second, it's horrifying. I don't know if this only happens on my figure or all of Knight Blazer. I suggest you apply some dish washer soap as a lubricant to loosen it a bit. I didn't do it (too lazy =A=;) so I ended up unable to pose the leg too dynamic here 'orz

Gimmicks

Just like most SHF Showa-era Rider, Knight Blazer has scarf part for its gimmick. This scarf has a ball-hinge joint so you can adjust its movement to give Knight Blazer pose more dynamic feel. The downside is, this scarf is quite heavy and you can't make Knight Blazer stand straight on its own if the scarf position is too much. The other gimmick it has is the rocky cliff diorama. There's a connector on it to be put under Knight Blazer's feet, so you can recreate the memorable scene on Wild Arms 2nd Ignition's opening movie.

Pose

It sure hard to pose a character you don't know anything about. I don't know how he usually acts, his signature pose/attack, etc, so I just make my own pose after I did the pose like on the promo pictures =A='

Now with the cliff...

Outdoor shoot...

 Using an effect part, though I don't know what Vanishing Buster looks like XD

Din Lev, full power. Spin, Infinity Cyclinder!
Tetramactys Gramaton! Ain Soph Aur, dead end shoot!!!

Ichigo wants to look cool with huge scarf on cliff too :3

 And last picture...

NAAATSUMENYA BABAWA CHIBABA~
IT'S THE CIIII~RCLE OF LIIIFE!!

End Verdict

A great figure I really love even though I know nothing about his character. He looks awesome, comes with great diorama, and the articulation is good too except those annoyingly tight leg. That leg and heavy scarf reducing the point for me, but I still recommend it. A must have collectible for Wild Arms fans!